Writing
Beaver Road Writing Vision:
“All children are given the opportunity to write creatively and meaningfully with an enriched curriculum which fosters a love of language and literature.”
At Beaver Road, children develop their skills in Writing through a creative and enriched curriculum with exploration, drama and imaginative play underpinning the teaching and learning of Writing. Children are treated as writers, from the earliest stage, who have valuable ideas which they are encouraged to share with the world. Our priority is for children to share their ideas freely through their Writing and become inspired by the many opportunities Writing will bring them in the future. Writing is a life-long skill which can open many doors and minds and we encourage children to take risks with their Writing to make it come to life. Children are supported at every step of their Writing journey with high quality model texts, exposure to a wealth of vocabulary and the opportunity to create meaningful links to the wider curriculum. Children are empowered to write imaginatively, with encouraging shared writing sessions which create a collaborative writing environment in which all children can thrive. Children have ownership of their Writing and understand that Writing is a journey in which they can explore themselves and the world around them with endless possibilities.
Our key principles:
In order to develop and sustain writing skills, children are given opportunities to write for a range of purposes and audiences, often catered to their personal interests through careful planning and resourcing.
Guided and shared writing sessions model key Writing skills and children learn how to plan, compose, edit and improve their Writing.
By developing a growth mind-set around Writing, children become aware of how to write ‘as a writer’ which can often mean drafting and revising their work.
Phonics, Spelling and Grammar threads into each Writing lesson, with children being encouraged to self-evaluate and peer check their work to develop their independence and ownership of their Writing.
Talk For Writing:
Talk For Writing is an approach to Writing in which children internalise the language used in a range of texts through the use of drama and play. Children familiarise themselves with an array of different genres and text types throughout their time at Beaver Road, thus developing a rich vocabulary and gaining an exposure to exemplar models of Writing. Using these experiences, children are encouraged to build on the ideas and language they have learned to create their own worlds and texts through Writing. A key feature of Talk For Writing is that children internalise the language structures needed to write through ‘talking the text’ as well as close reading.
Units of Writing:
Writing units are introduced to children with an exciting and engaging Hook in which children gauge an understanding of the Intent of the Writing, the Audience and Purpose and the Outcome. A Model Text or a WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) is also shared so that all children understand what they are aiming for. Writing Units are taught in the following phases:
Reading Phase (Imitation):Key features of the Writing genre are identified i.e. children are given a framework, the language pattern becomes internalised.
Toolkit Phase (Innovation): Spelling, Grammar and Terminology i.e. adapting the framework internalised to create something new.
Writing Phase (Independent): Planning, writing, redrafting, editing and publishing i.e. creating something new following the structure of the model text.
Writing For Pleasure:
Writing for Pleasure is encouraged for children at Beaver Road with a range of stimuli to encourage their imagination and to inform their writing. Using exciting images from Pobble 365 and Literacy Shed, children are given opportunities to write freely about topics which are of a personal interest to them. Children build their writing stamina by exploring this freedom and Writing clubs in KS2 help promote this. Each classroom has developed creative Writing and Reading spaces which invite children to explore the depths of their imaginations and use Writing as a creative outlet for their endless ideas.
Please see the Writing Essentials document for further information.
Parental involvement and learning at home is encouraged in Writing through parents and carers developing children’s creative ideas by talking about them at home, using drama to act them out and giving many opportunities for children to write for pleasure.
Please forward any queries to our Head of English:
Rihula Sameer-Mour